Tuesday, September 21, 2010

More Problems in Vatican City

The Pope has been busy as of late with claims of scandals involving priests, but this is not the only issue presented to the Vatican. The Vatican bank is being investigated by the Bank of Italy for money-laundering. There are two recent major money transactions that sparked the curiosity of the Bank of Italy; two transfers with not enough information, one for $26 million American dollars and another for $4 million American dollars. Due to the lack of information provided with the transactions, the Prosecutors in Italy have seized the $30 million dollars. The Vatican released a statement claiming they aim for full transparency and have full confidence in in Ettore Tedeschi, the head of the bank. The Bank is headed by Tedeschi and the five top cardinals. The funds the Vatican bank hold are used for "pious reasons." Money laundering expert Jeffrey Robinson stated the Vatican Bank is the most secret bank in the world. There is no way an outsider can know how much money the bank controls, which given how much real estate it oversees, it has to be a substantially large number.

By: Alyssa Rabulinski

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